Ripple Effect, With Years to Make Up
by Alveric
Summary: They've just met and it's their first mission through the gate and it's all been a disaster right from the start, but Sam and Cameron can tell there's just something in those blue eyes that feels right. Side-story to 'The Times That Weren't' etc. Cam/Sam


Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate: SG-1, I am only playing in the world

A/N: Here is another side story / companion piece to my series of SG-1 tales. I went a little long on the story of Shaftboy and his Sam

**Ripple Effect – With Years to Make Up**

McLean, Virginia, May 26th, 1988 (alternate reality)

He held the large G.I. Joe XP-14F Skystriker model with his thumb and index finger hooked around the drop tank on the underside of the fuselage. He'd swept the wings back with a pull of the slider behind the cockpit and was tilting the plane from side to side in slow motion and making whooshing noises in a poor imitation of the twin Pratt & Whitney TF30s the real Grumman F-14 Tomcat would have. He turned his head when he heard a beeping noise from behind him and saw her holding up her own Skystriker in a similar way.

"Flagg, this is Ghost Rider, I'm being targeted by missiles, request permission to engage." he said in a crackling monotone while twisting his wrist to simulate his Skystriker taking evasive action.

"That's a negative Ghost Rider, do not fire unless fired upon. Repeat, do not fire unless fired upon." she said after making her own staticky crackle. She moved around behind him and twisted her XP-14F and flicked it upwards to move it up higher, then started again with the beeping sounds, getting quicker and quicker until she let out a long beep.

"Flagg, this is Ghost Rider, they have tone! They have tone!" He flipped his XP-14F upside down and sent up up high until she made a pair of loud whooshing sounds and twirled her fingers in his direction. "Missiles incoming, deploying chaff!" He used his left hand to make a little flourish from behind his Skystriker while twisting it to the right and banking wide. "No joy. Still locked-on!" He then made a pair of loud explosion sounds and bucked the back end of his toy up with a flick of his elbow. "I've been hit! I'm going down! Eject, eject!" He used his left hand to flick the plastic canopy up and pulled out Ace and his seat and threw him into the air then took the Skystriker by the wings and corkscrewed it in slow motion until he stuck it into the dirt by the stream upside down. He grinned and turned to see her looking up and followed her gaze to see his Ace figure hanging from a branch by the strings of his plastic parachute. "Aw, man!" She glanced at him and laughed. He did like that laugh.

"You shouldn't have thrown him up so high." she taunted him and he glared at her. "I think Mark can reach it if he uses a broom. Let's go get him." He picked up his toy again and fell into step along side her. "You know that thing you did where you flipped your plane upside down and pushed it up?" He nodded with a glance her way. "That was a negative gee climb." He smiled and she returned it. They walked back into the back garden of his father's friend's house and looked around for the girl's older brother. They'd just met today, apparently their fathers were old friends and had run into each other again after a long time. His Dad was invited to this barbecue and accepted. Cam was a little nervous. This was a General's house.

"Cameron, Sammie, you two having fun?" asked her father as they approached. Cam's first impression of him was sadness. Apparently her Mom had died when she was little and he'd retired from the Air Force to take a consulting job so he could take care of his children. Sam hugged him and that brought a smile to his face as he patted the back of her head. She did that a lot.

"We're good, sir, but we got a pilot MIA." Cam replied and then held up his left hand to his mouth as an aside. "He's stuck up a tree." he whispered and the man laughed at that and nodded. The girl turned her head to him and smiled magnificently at him.

"You need to rescue him then, we never leave a man behind, son." her father said sternly as the rotund figure of their host bustled up behind them with a chicken leg held in a pair of tongs.

"Hello, you two, do you want some chicken? I have some burgers nearly ready as well." Cam watched the drumstick very carefully. "I'll take that as a yes." the man said with a wide smile.

"They've got a man down behind enemy lines, George. Sounds like they need Search and Rescue." said her father seriously and George's own features set as stone.

"This is serious, Jacob. We can't allow one of our own to be captured by the enemy. What do you need for this rescue mission?" he asked with a look at them both. Sam grinned.

"We were hoping for Mark and a broom, General." she replied. Both men laughed at her idea of S&R. She looked around and frowned slightly.

"He's not here, Sammie, we sent him to the store for some things we ran out of. Will I do as an alternative?" asked Jacob. She nodded. "I'll be right back." He leaned down to kiss the top of her head and turned to go into the house.

"Cameron." He turned his head at hearing his name called. His mother motioned him over and he glanced back to the girl who just smiled. He turned and walked over. "Stacey wanted you to know that she put your bag in the hall if you need anything from it. She's driving Grandma back to the hotel." He frowned worriedly. "She's fine, just a little tired from all the travelling." He nodded and accepted his mother's kiss on his cheek with a little cringe. "How are you and Samantha getting along?" He turned to look at the girl. She turned her head to face him as well and he smiled. She held her Skystriker on the crook of her elbow with the nose pointed at the sky and smiled back.

"We're having fun. She likes all sorts of things." he replied and frowned at the smile his mother was giving him when he turned back. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just happy, that's all." she said with a pat on his cheek which turned into a rub when she spotted a bit of dirt. "From what I gather she's a very smart girl." Cam nodded.

"Yeah, she knows all kinds of stuff." he replied. His mother smiled that same smile at him again.

"Well run along and go play, General Hammond looks to have some food ready for you as well." she motioned over to indicate their host who was holding a pair of paper plates with chicken pieces and hamburgers as he talked with the girl. "Maybe you two can keep in touch after this, that would be nice." He just grunted and bustled off to get some food.

* * *

MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts, September 1995 (alternate reality)

_First week of classes are done. They were brutal. Not because the material was hard, but because everyone here just looks at me like I'm a freak. It hurts. I try to make conversation in the labs, but I think no one really knows how they're supposed to talk to a fourteen year old._

_At least my professors have been good. They just treat me like any other student which is fine by me. They don't expect more just because I'm a 'prodigy'. They expect me to be where I am because I'm a 'prodigy', but they're pleased with that as long as they think I've found my level. I think I may still have a few surprises in me._

Sam tapped the end of her pen against the page of the leather bound book she was writing in and clicked the button over and over against the paper. It had always been a poor substitute for the memory of the person she really wanted to talk to. She had no choice however, she could never bring herself to reveal this to anyone. Even if it would help her find him again.

_I wonder what you're like now. You'll be in high school. I wonder what classes you like. What sports you play, I'm pretty sure you do play at least one. I wish I could at least talk to you. It's been so long, but I'm such a coward. I'm so afraid of how you'd look at me now that there's no way I could. This isn't healthy, I know it._

She sighed and clicked the pen off and slipped it into the little loop it lived in along the edge of the book's pages and closed the clasp on it before she put it back in her bag. She glanced up from her seat in the empty lecture hall and sighed as she stood up. Walking along the row she got to the door only to be startled when it opened almost in her face. She jumped a little, letting out a yelp.

"Joseph and Mary! You scared me, kid." exclaimed the young woman who was patting the space over her heart with her hand. "What are you still doing here? The last lecture finished thirty minutes ago." Sam blinked. That wasn't the reaction she'd been expecting.

"You're not wondering what a 'kid' is doing here?" she asked. The woman's pretty blue eyes crinkled in amusement as her head of soft brown hair canted to the side.

"Why would I? You're a student here, right?" she replied matter-of-factly. "I was just wondering if you'd forgotten something." She held out her hand. "I'm Stacey Kendrick, TA for Professor Jessop. Do you need a hand?" Sam glanced at, then shook, the proffered hand.

"Samantha Carter. No, I was just writing in my notebook and lost track of time." she replied as Stacey smiled and shook her hand.

"You know, History doesn't see a lot of 'prodigies'," she began with a little airquotes gesture while lifting up the books and files she was holding. "You must be in the Science curriculum." She smiled and hooked her head, indicating Sam should follow if she wanted to carry on the conversation. Sam gave a faint smile and walked down the stairs to the podium in front of the boards as she trailed after the post-grad. "Still taking a mandatory credit?" Stacey asked over her shoulder when she saw Sam had tagged along.

"Yeah. I like History of course, don't get me wrong, but it's... inexact." Sam elucidated to the other woman's laughter.

"You're telling me? They can't decide what to teach from one year to the next." She threw Sam a grin which just begged to be returned in kind. "So what's your major? Have you even decided?" Sam nodded.

"Astrophysics. Theoretical Astrophysics." she replied before looking away for a moment. "I want to be an astronaut." she finished in a soft voice. Stacey's eyebrows shot up and she smiled broadly as she paused in her work of preparing slides for the projector by the podium.

"No kidding! My little brother wants to be an astronaut too. He's planning to join the Air Force like our Dad." She canted her head and looked at Sam for a moment. "You know, I think he's about your age, maybe a little younger." She smiled and carried on with her work when Sam nodded. "Yeah, he can't get there with brains so he'll just have to do it with guts and mad piloting skills." Sam smiled at that.

"My Dad was in the Air Force too, but he retired when my Mom died." Sam added and then smiled ruefully when she saw Stacey look at her sadly. "It's okay, I was too young to even know her."

"That just makes it worse!" Stacey cried. Sam shook her head.

"I'm more worried about my Dad, since she died he's been... sad. Now I'm not there anymore and I'm afraid..." She paused, wondering why she was revealing these things to a total stranger. She looked up and showed the young woman a sad smile. "I always did my best to make him smile and laugh, you know?" She glanced down. "He was very happy at my graduation." Stacey looked at Sam from the corner of her eye with a little wry smile.

"You're pretty mature for being just a kid." she said and Sam pouted at her theatrically. "Hey, I get to call you a kid, how old are you? Fifteen? Sixteen?" Sam looked away and flushed slightly.

"Fourteen." she whispered. Stacey gaped at her.

"You must be _hella_ smart!" she declared which just made Sam blush more. "And it turns out a little younger than Cam." She looked up into the distance and smirked. "Most annoying little brother in the history of annoying little brothers. Still, I miss him." She glanced back at Sam. "I haven't been back home much since I got married. Too busy." She glanced at her watch and blinked. "Oh, Sam-" Stacey met her eyes. "Can I call you Sam?" She nodded and the young woman smiled. "Professor Jessop's class will be starting soon so you should skedaddle. Say, you're not here in Cambridge on your own, are you?" Sam shook her head, of course she had a guardian appointed by the Regents. "Are you eating alright? You look thin. You should come have dinner with me and the hubby some nights. We'll be glad to have you." She ripped off a piece of paper from a notebook and scribbled a name and phone number on it. "I won't take no for an answer either." She looked at Sam pointedly then her eyes widened. "Mary and Joseph, I just kinda threw myself on you there, didn't I?" Sam laughed, but still took the piece of paper.

"I'd love to, Stacey. As long as you don't mind eating with a kid." Sam prompted with a lift of an eyebrow. Stacey scoffed.

"You're already way more mature than Martin ever will be, it'll make a change." She waved Sam away with a smile.

* * *

Auburn, Kansas, August 1997 (alternate reality)

Cameron closed the trunk of the black Mustang his parents had bought him as a graduation present and turned to find his mother on the verge of tears behind him, barely able to contain her need to embrace him. He sighed slightly and stepped forward to hug her and she held him tightly.

"You call us every week, do you understand? At least once a week! Or I will get on a bus to Colorado Springs and make you wish you'd never been born." she warned in a broken voice. He smiled ruefully over her shoulder at his father who just shrugged at him as he leant heavily on his crutches.

"Wendy, don't be like that." burbled his grandmother with a little dismissive wave. "We've raised him well, he won't get into any trouble."

"And if he does, Emily?" asked his mother as she pulled back and turned around to give his grandmother a questioning look.

"He'll have to deal with me." she declared with a raised eyebrow. "Won't he, Frank?"

"Mother, let's try not to scare the poor boy too much before he gets on the road." his father said with an exasperated look. "Especially since he's going to be driving and I'll be going too." Cam looked over and glared at his sister, Stacey, and her husband, Martin, who were both on the brink of laughter. She decided to mask it by coming over and giving him a big hug.

"I'm so proud of my evil brat of a brother." she murmured happily. "Dream big, Cam. And make sure you learn to fly those planes properly. It's all you've got going for ya." He pushed her away dramatically and she did laugh at that and came back in for another hug. He felt her grow a little tense and frowned slightly before pulling back to look at her. She gave him a rueful smile. "You know I love you, right?" He frowned at her in confusion and nodded. "You know I never meant that stuff I said about you being unwanted, right?" He sighed, understanding she was talking about how her parents had only ever planned for one child and his birth had been an accident. One which he knew his parents were very happy about. That of course never stopped his older sister being an older sister and tormenting him with it whenever she was mad at him, which was often. He just nodded at her and she actually seemed genuinely relieved. He hugged her this time and she leant her head against his. "Ask Dad about James." she whispered in his ear and he pulled back with a confused furrow of his brow. She shook her head slightly and patted his cheek before speaking up in a louder voice. "You gotta study hard too, Cam, they don't let just anyone be astronauts. Take my friend, Sam-" He pinched her lips closed between his fingers and everyone laughed as he glared at her.

"Enough with 'your friend, Sam' already!" he cried before turning to give Martin his own share of a glare. The man held up his hands in surrender and Cam turned to his Dad. "Let's head off, Dad. We've got a long road ahead." His father nodded and started walking towards the passenger side door and Cam had to give his grandmother a hug before he could get in the driver's side. He drove off at last to everyone waving behind him and his father fiddling with his car's radio until he found the one station that actually played some classic rock.

They drove on for many miles making small talk and talking about Cam's plans and his father's recollections of his own time at the Academy. However, Cameron's mind always returned to that little niggling thing his sister said just before he left. He flicked his eyes over at his father as he was just finishing off another story about how he once launched a rocket from the roof of the McDermott Library.

"Dad?" He waited a breath as his father looked over and caught the tone of his voice. "Stace said something to me just before we left. She told me to ask you about James." He was watching his father's eyes as he drove down the long straight road he knew was completely devoid of traffic as far as the eye could see. They turned stormy for a moment before that was washed away completely in a wave of sadness and melancholy he'd never seen in his father before. He frowned slightly and only turned back to the road when his father looked out the window so he couldn't see his eyes anymore.

"I suppose there's no real reason not to tell you." Frank began in a low voice. "You have... had..." he paused for a long moment before sighing and continuing along a different tack. "Stacey wasn't the first child your mother and I conceived." Cam's eyes went wide in alarm. "A year before... she was pregnant... and we lost him late..." he choked up and Cam kept glancing over in worry. Frank cleared his throat and turned to look over at him. "I had a brother you know. James. He was a great kid. He wasn't strong though, he had a weak heart, you see, and he... died when..." He saw a tear roll down his father's cheek. "He was only six." Cam could feel the lump in his own throat and forced himself to look only at the road. "So when we lost the baby we..." They were both silent for several long minutes. "We love you, Cameron. You're our gift. We only ever planned to have one child, but when we found out Wendy was expecting again we never once thought it was a bad thing. Please believe me." Cam shook his head.

"I know, Dad. I know." he said softly.

"We're so proud of you, son. _So_ proud."

* * *

McLean, Virginia, December 2001 (alternate reality)

Sam shook hands with the last of the attendees and finally allowed herself to close her eyes for a moment and feel just a sliver of the pain simmering under the surface, in her heart. It nearly choked her and she brought up a hand to cover her mouth as she clutched at her stomach with the other and bent over slightly. She felt a strong arm around her shoulder and turned to bury herself against her brother's chest as he held her tight.

"Shhh, Sammie..." he murmured into her hair as he rubbed her back and kissed her head. "It was his time. He held on as long as he could, and he saw you get your doctorate. You've made him so proud, Sammie. You've made me so proud too." She sobbed against his shoulder as she held her gloved hands over her eyes and mourned her father. Not because he had passed away the week before, but because he had been forced to wait so long to rejoin his beloved wife. Because of her. "I know what you're thinking, Sam, and you better stop it right now! It's not your fault." She shook her head as her shoulders were wracked with shuddering sobs. He pulled away slightly and used his arm to guide her from their father's graveside along a secluded, snow-covered path. They walked together in silence for some time while she continued to cry, dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. He turned to her finally and spoke in soft low tones. "Sammie, listen to me. I'm only going to tell you this once. Mom and Dad knew. They knew." She looked up at him in alarm and he frowned slightly.

"What do you mean, Mark?" she asked, demanded even. He ran a gloved hand over his chin as he stared out over the stone markers and metal plaques shrouded by ice and snow. He let out a breath which drifted away white on the breeze.

"Dad told me," he began, "when I was sixteen, that Mom had been pregnant once before I was born. There were complications and she lost the baby and... it left damage... in her uterus." Sam gasped. "Just having me was a risk for her and for the longest time that was it, but Mom..." He turned to look at Sam with gentle fondness. "Mom always wanted a little girl." Sam clutched at her mouth as her eyes began to well up again. "They knew it was a risk, a huge risk, but it was a risk they were willing to take." She shook her head. "Mom would have been so proud of you, Sam." The tears began flowing again, and she couldn't stop them. "I never saw her look as happy as when she held you in her arms after you were born." He gulped down hard and scratched at his cheek for a moment before clearing his throat. "That's why I was a bit of bastard to you when you were young. Because... to my stupid eight your old mind... you'd made her happier in that half hour than I ever had in my whole life." She rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him and he shook his head against her blond locks. "It wasn't your fault, Sam. It wasn't anyone's fault." he declared as the snow began to fall again around them.

She wept silently against his shoulder and didn't look up until the tears stopped falling. When she did she noticed a man standing and watching them from a discrete distance. He wore a thick dark greatcoat over what must have been a set of Air Force service dress blues, if the hat he wore on his head was anything to go by. She frowned slightly as she watched him standing still with his gloved hands clasped together in front of him. Mark must have sensed her tension because he looked over his shoulder and turned to frown at the man also. No longer having the option of waiting the man walked forward slowly, doffed his hat and nodded to each of them slowly before speaking.

"Mr. Carter, Dr. Carter, I am Major Paul Davis." He took the time to shake both their hands. "First, please allow me to offer you both my condolences, Colonel Carter was a very highly regarded officer in his day, as I'm sure the presence of Generals Hammond and Vidrine earlier can attest." He paused a moment as a slight discomfort seemed to pass over his features. "I apologise for how inappropriate this must seem to you, but I have an urgent matter to discuss with you, Dr. Carter." She frowned and Mark tensed slightly until she put a hand on his arm. "With regards to your doctoral thesis, ma'am." Sam's eyebrows shot up. What did the Air Force care about high energy stress-tensor dynamics in subspace boundary fields?

* * *

Area 51, Nevada, November 2005

Cameron glanced down at the control board of his X-302 and made some tiny adjustments with his RCS thrusters. The yoke was starting to really buck and shake in his hand, but he held it steady. A little fine footwork helped keep everything trim.

"Five meters." He called into the radio before dialling back on the throttle infinitesimally. He felt a shimmy starting from behind his seat and gritted his teeth as he added some more fine corrections with the thrusters. Another glance down had him smirking. "Two meters."

"You don't stand a chance, Mitchell." taunted Lt. Colonel Bryce Ferguson over the radio. "You'll never keep her up for thirty even if you do make it down there." He then heard cursing and nearly laughed.

"My gauges have zeroed out, Colonel, what do your telemetry readouts show?" he taunted back while trying to keep the intensity of his fierce concentration out of his breezy tone. His feet were doing the tiniest dance imaginable while he was playing that thruster control like a piccolo.

"Eighty centimeters." Ferguson groused. "Start the clock." he called in a slightly muffled tone. A small display counting up the seconds appeared on his HUD and Cam ignored it for all he was worth. Instead he closed his eyes and listened to the 302's groaning and shuddering and keening as the thruster assemblies kicked out several thousand pounds of thrust into the now molten patch of desert scrub while he kept the test bed for the Terran space superiority fighter end up and hovering, less than a meter off the ground. "Twenty." He ignored that too. Counterbalancing every little shift of the airframe with the twist of a foot or the flick of a thumb. "Thirty. Damn you, Mitchell." He grinned, but still kept on going. "Forty-five. Quit showing off and get my ship back in the sky!" growled his boss and Cam slowly kicked up the throttle and carefully guided the 302 higher off the ground on a plume of fire. Once he was high enough and had enough speed he kicked the throttle to full all at once and added the afterburners for good measure as he did barrel rolls for fun and whooped and hollered into the radio, knowing he'd just broken the Colonel's own record. He could hear the cheering from the control staff over the radio and even Colonel Ferguson's wry laughter. "Congratulations, Mitchell. Now bring 'er home, Ghost Rider."

"Copy that, Dreamland Control, _Rocketeer_ RTB." he said into the radio only to be met with even wilder cheers for his use of his newly-earned flight designation.

When he climbed down the gantry he was getting cheers and applause from all the ground staff and back-slaps and high-fives from the other pilots who'd come to the hangar to greet him. He grinned from ear to ear and cheered along with everyone as he still felt the buzz of adrenaline coursing through his veins. He caught sight of Ferguson walking up and came to attention though he couldn't keep the grin off his lips.

"Captain Cameron Mitchell." He reached up with a little silver medallion on a ribbon which he began to pin to the chest of Cam's flightsuit. "For services to Gross Stupidity and the furtherance of human endeavours in the field of Applied Insanity, I confer upon you the title of 'Rocketeer' and all the duties and responsibilities vested thereon." He stepped back and saluted sharply, which Cam returned as everyone cheered. They had a mini-procession in the hangar as everyone walked by the rear of the X-302 and reverently touched the thruster nozzles for several moments, and all involved retired to the mess for a celebration.

Around two hours later as everything was breaking up, Cam found himself sitting at a table with Colonel Ferguson as they shared a big bowl of nachos and a jar of salsa. He was still grinning from ear to ear and his jaw was starting to ache.

"That's a hell of a thing you did, Cam." Bryce conceded with a smile. "I'm gonna hate losin' ya." Cam whipped his head around as the smile dropped right off his face instantly. Ferguson smirked ruefully and reached into his pocket to fish out an envelope which he handed over to the younger man. "A Major Davis came by earlier while you were doing your big show. Watched the whole thing too." Cam looked at the envelope, there was nothing on the outside which would indicate what it was. He frowned and looked up at Bryce. "Come on. We both know what it is. Open it." Cam did, ripping open the fold with a finger and pulling out a piece of paper with some very official looking letterhead. He handed the sheet to Ferguson after a quick scan. His friend read it and smiled wryly. "Yep. Transfer orders. Stargate Command." He looked up and grinned. "You made it to the Show, kid. Don't blow it."

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006 (alternate reality)

"Why are we doing this, Jack?" asked Daniel as he walked down the corridor alongside his friend, with Teal'c right behind them. He pulled at a thread he found stuck under the SG-1 patch on his right arm and held it up to scrutinise it before flicking his fingers and letting it drop away.

"Daniel, how many technical dweebs have we had on the team?" Jack asked while nodding at Master Sergeant Siler as he walked past. Daniel furrowed his brow at the non-sequitur.

"Um, since you tend to drive them off in less than three months and we've been doing this for four years..." He scrunched up his eyes and flicked his head from side to side as if counting silently. "A lot." He finally shook his head as he frowned in confusion.

"Right. 'Cause they're all annoying. And talky. And use big words I can't pronounce." Jack added.

"O'Neill, you have also called Daniel Jackson annoying, and he does talk a great deal, and he knows many large words you are incapable of correctly verbalising." Teal'c pointed out from behind the pair as he clasped his hands behind his back. Both men turned to look at him with little glares, at which he merely lifted a condescending eyebrow.

"Yes, well, whatever. That still doesn't answer my question, Jack." Daniel continued as they turned the corner in the direction of the briefing room.

"I've been told I need to find a permanent technical dweeb." Jack replied simply and Daniel carried on frowning.

"Right, and good luck with that, but that _still_ doesn't answer my question." Daniel intoned with barely contained frustration as they stepped into the briefing room to find an Air Force Captain in dress blues arguing rather vociferously with a ponytailed blonde civilian dressed in slacks and a button-down blouse which peeked out from under a sleeveless v-neck jumper. She had her arms crossed under her breasts while he was gesticulating at the Stargate through the briefing room window.

"Because these two are the 'future' of the Stargate Program, Daniel. And they need the guiding hand of our wisdom." Jack replied while Daniel lifted both eyebrows and stared at the man and woman in their mid-twenties as she raised a hand to point at the Captain's chest. "You sure you don't want to come along, T?" The Jaffa lifted his head on his neck slightly and looked askance at Jack for a moment before turning around.

"I am needed on Chulak, O'Neill." he replied and walked away.

"Chicken!"

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006 (alternate reality) about fifteen minutes earlier

Sam looked down at the hem of her jumper and minutely adjusted the ID badge which hung from it, then looked up and breathed out a great nervous sigh before she turned the corner which, she remembered from the layout she'd memorised, led to the briefing room. She was finally walking these halls after having devoted four years to making it all just... work. She lifted the corner of her mouth wryly at the thought of how she had been constantly denied the chance to be a more active participant in the Program. Now was her chance and she was going to seize it. She was going to grab it and she wouldn't let anyone mess things up for her. This was far too... important. Not exciting. Important. She swept into the room, knowing she was about fifteen minutes early, and had to admit to some surprise at finding she wasn't the first one there. She saw an Air Force officer, a Captain by the double bars on his shoulders, standing by the window overlooking what her mental map told her was the Embarkation Room. She frowned. He was doing what she realised a good part of her wanted to be doing, but which she would have denied herself so as to not appear overawed. It irked her.

"Captain Mitchell, I presume?" she asked as she walked in, when he turned around to see who had spoken she had to school her features because he definitely had something about him that made her think... Holy Hannah, he's gorgeous. Just a little... Around the eyes. She walked forward around the table and held out her hand which he turned around to shake. And the smile... her heart nearly stopped. That was just... not right.

"Yes, ma'am, and you must be Dr. Carter." he replied and she tried very hard to keep the smile on her face as he called her 'ma'am'. It didn't help that his voice was doing unfair things to her hind brain. She was having trouble breathing. He turned that flashing smile away from her as he looked down on the Stargate once more and she took a deep breath. "Can you believe it? Man, I can't wait. This is my chance, you know? I'm just gonna grab it and never let go." She almost smiled at how closely he was mirroring her thoughts. "I mean, this is so _cool_, am I right?" She blinked and frowned at how he was now mirroring her thoughts a little _too_ closely.

"I'm sure you could call it that, Captain, but the Stargate Program is vitally important to the future security of the entire human race." she intoned a little testily. "We mustn't lose sight of what's at stake." She was wondering where all these words spilling out of her mouth were coming from. She didn't know why she was saying them. And the look she was getting from him in return wasn't helping. He was frowning, a little resentment flashed in his eyes, she didn't want to make this sort of impression on him. Even though he still looked adorable.

"I know that, Doctor. I didn't mean to imply I wasn't going to take this seriously. I'm a professional, but come _on_..." he motioned towards the dark grey metal ring hanging from bright red clamps over the metal ramp below them. "You can't tell me the idea of walking through that to visit _other planets_ isn't just a teensy little bit exciting." He finished by pinching his thumb and forefinger together as he held a hand up close to his face and she frowned angrily at what he had just implied.

"I'm not denying that, Captain. I'm just trying to impress upon you that we are being trusted, quite literally, with the fate of our planet every time we step through that event horizon." She crossed her arms under her breasts and stared into his flashing blue eyes. And not because they were quite possibly the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, including her own. Not at all.

"Well consider me impressed upon, Doctor." he replied with a slightly scathing tone as he held out his arms and shrugged theatrically. "And I thank you for taking the time to do all that impressing." She frowned, this isn't what she wanted. "I'll be sure to remember each time I step through that 'gate," he swept his arm to point at the Stargate below them, "onto the soil of an alien world that I carry humanity's future on my shoulders," his very broad shoulders, "and I will banish from my mind any thought that this could quite possibly be the best job in the world!" She fumed and pointed at his chest with a raised finger.

"Please don't twist my words or my intentions, Captain. I'm not saying that it's wrong to be excited or to enjoy the work." she explained forcefully. "Believe me when I say I think this is going to be the most important _and enjoyable_ thing I will ever do in my-"

"Settle down, children, we have a long, loo~ong week ahead of us." She turned to glare at the owner of the voice that interrupted her, finding a tall man with greying hair at his temples walking into the room with a younger man in glasses trailing behind and watching her and the Captain beside her with a raised eyebrow. "At ease, Captain." She glanced back to see him loosening his stance. She gritted her teeth, angry at herself for what must be the worst first impression in the history of first impressions.

"Colonel, we were just-" he began only to be waved away.

"None of mine, Mitchell. What you two lovebirds do on your own time is completely up to you." interjected O'Neill. Sam's eyes widened in horror and Mitchell beside her tensed noticeably.

"Jack!" reprimanded the other man who had walked in as he glared at him fiercely.

"What?" asked Jack with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Settle down, people." Intoned a distinctive drawl which had Mitchell coming to attention immediately and had Sam smiling broadly. General Hammond managed to give her a smile before sweeping his gaze back over the others in the room. "At ease, Captain." She could not imagine having to do that every time a superior officer showed up or left the room. "Take your seats, please." She moved over to the table and paused when she found that Mitchell had moved towards the same chair as she had, he paused as well, but then just pulled the chair out and looked at her expectantly. She sighed and sat down in it. He was the chivalrous type too.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006 (alternate reality)

Cameron stood at attention in Major General George Hammond's office and waited for the older man to signal him at ease. And waited. And waited. The flag officer simply sat at his desk with his elbows propped up on the dark surface and watched him with narrowed eyes. And watched him. And watched him. Cam was starting to feel nervous.

"At ease, Mitchell." Hammond intoned and he let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in. The older man picked up a file folder and opened it as he leaned back in his thickly upholstered leather chair. "I don't like the look of your record, Captain." Cam frowned. "It's too clean. Even if you've only been out of the Academy for a handful of years." He put the folder down on the desk and looked up. "I'm given to understand you are a gifted pilot, son, with exceptional marksmanship and survival skills and outstanding leadership qualities already displayed in the field." He turned over a few pages and tapped a finger on a paragraph. "Not to mention you were hand-picked for the X-301 program over a host of other officers with more seniority, more combat experience, more just about everything." He closed the folder and put it away. "None of that matters to me, however, there's only one thing I care about." He stood up and Cam came to attention again. "Follow me, son." Cam took his cover from the crook of his arm and fell into step slightly behind the General as he walked into the briefing room and came to stand at the wide windows overlooking the Stargate.

Cam looked down and the first thing he noticed was her, she was always the first thing he noticed now. She stood on the ramp, pointing at the Stargate while technicians ran around carrying tools and other pieces of equipment under her direction. She put her hands on her hips and looked up to see him watching her and he held his breath. He didn't want her to think he was... urg. He didn't know what he wanted. His eyes widened slightly when he saw her smile and wave up at him and it wasn't until he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see General Hammond smiling and waving back that he realised he hadn't been the target. He clenched his jaw slightly.

"That's all I care about, Captain." Hammond rumbled dangerously. "She's my godchild, and if anything happens to her I will hunt you down." Cam turned to stare at the General with wide eyes. "You're a valuable asset to this Program, Mitchell, incredibly valuable. However, Dr. Samantha Carter is _invaluable_. Do I make myself clear?" Cam stiffened and rattled off a smart 'yes, sir' as he looked down at her once more. "You will have many duties and responsibilities under my command, son. None have a higher priority, as far as I'm concerned, than her safety. You are her armour."

* * *

P9R-152, January 2006 (alternate reality)

He was resting his hand on the stock of his gun again. She tried not to look up at him because if she saw him looking off into the distance from under his patrol cap with that serious look in his narrowed eyes just once more... looking all... handsome... and stuff... she'd lose it. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair. She busied herself recalibrating the guide alignments _again_, she'd done it twice already, but she was putting off actually telling him because it would mean Colonel O'Neill and Dr. Jackson... Daniel... would return to carry on with the work. She was enjoying being alone with him too much. They hadn't even said more than a few words to each other and it just felt... comfortable. He looked good in those green fatigues... BDUs... as well. And she didn't know what to say to him after that _disaster _of a first meeting. Well, yes, she did know what to say. She sighed and put down the fine precision torque screwdriver.

"I'm sorry." she muttered. He shifted to face her, but remained silent. She looked up from under her own patrol cap and saw him looking at her in confusion.

"What for, Doctor?" he asked and she sighed.

"For that." she explained and looked back at the high resolution scanner in front of her. "For how we spectacularly got off on the wrong foot. For how I bit your head off just for telling me you were feeling exactly the same way I was, but was too afraid to admit." He blinked at her a few times, but seemed unsure of what to say. She looked down at the ground between them. "I was excited too, but I didn't want to seem... eager. This is too important to me and everyone expects me to be-"

"Perfect?" he interjected and she looked up at him. "I don't expect you to be perfect. I don't even expect you to know what you're doing most of the time." She frowned and he chuckled at her. A sound she was hearing for the first time and which she already found... she shook her head. "Look at what we're doing." he cried as he waved his hands across him to encompass the whole area where they had set up. "We're on an alien planet, scanning ruins left behind by a race of technological supermen." He turned back to her and his eyes softened and a small smile played across his lips. "We're in undiscovered country. It's okay to be a bit... less than perfect." She had to smile.

"Call me Sam, okay?" She lifted an eyebrow when he frowned slightly. "Something wrong?"

"No, just... I was reminded of my sister for a bit." He shook his head. "Call me Cameron and I'll call you Sam and we can start over." He smiled at her and she couldn't help but grin.

"See? What did I tell ya, Danny." Jack said brightly after he came from around a high wall and spotted them. "I was right, wasn't I?"

"Jack, I don't think you know what you're talking about." replied the archaeologist with a warning glance at his friend. Jack waved him away and pushed his sunglasses back up his nose before resting both wrists, one over the other, on the stock of his P90.

"So how's it goin', Carter, we ready to go?" he indicated the machine beside her with a nod of his baseball cap.

"Yes, Colonel. I just finished up my calibration checks. We're all set." she replied, realising that even if she couldn't get any more time alone with him they had at least cleared the air.

"Great, you and Mitchell can help Daniel do all that scanning malarkey." He waved his hand back and forth in the direction of the ruins. "I'll go take some personal time, just me and the trees, and a perimeter check or two or three or until you're done."

"Yes, sir." replied Cameron with a quick nod. Jack gave him a little smile and clapped Daniel on the shoulder before moving off. Daniel closed his eyes for a moment as he rolled his arm slightly in its socket.

"I know this may seem a bit... like grunt work to you, Sam-" Daniel began until he stopped at her vehement head shake. He lifted his eyebrows and pushed his lips out in curiosity. "What? It seems like grunt work to me so I just thought..." She smiled as Cam began chuckling again. "I'm just saying, this is kind of what we do. Most of the time. When we're not being shot at."

"That's quite alright, Daniel, I'm here because I want to do more for the Program than just write all the code that runs the computers." She smiled until she saw his eyebrows shoot up.

"You did that? Wait. You're the one who solved the initial sequence field equations that fixed the power calculations we needed to get the 'gate up and running?" he asked incredulously. She blushed and glanced quickly at Cameron who was just looking off into the distance.

"Uh, yes." she replied at last. Daniel blinked and looked away.

"I thought you would have been way older." He shook his head slightly and pointed at Cam. "You grab that end, Mitchell, we'll be looking to position it in several places to get overlapping readings." The younger man nodded and moved to the other end of the scanner from Daniel and they both hefted it. Sam pointed off towards one of the spots she'd calculated would give optimum coverage.

* * *

P9R-152, January 2006 (alternate reality)

Mary and Joseph, now he understood what General Hammond meant by 'invaluable'. She was just the reason the whole damned Program even existed in the first place. He cursed himself over and over and over and glared furiously off into the trees. How could he even consider for a moment that anything could happen... He clenched his jaw tight and gripped his P90 in a vice-like grip. He had to calm down, his mind had been reeling most of the evening now and his turn on watch was coming to a close soon. He'd need to get some sleep once he woke up Colonel O'Neill. Not to mention he had to stay alert too.

He turned around slightly to face the moonlit clearing beside the ruins where they'd set up their small camp. He could see the outline of her sleeping form by the fallen log next to which he'd told her to sleep. It kept the cold wind off her during the night. He sighed and rubbed at his forehead with his fingers. They'd just gotten off to a new start too. He had to admit to himself their first meeting had been a bit of a debacle. He'd overreacted so badly to what she'd said that he was afraid he'd blown it completely. He was lucky that she had felt the same because it was clear he hadn't had the courage to fix things himself.

He stared off into the trees and cursed himself again for his presumption. He should have known right off the bat anyway. He could tell immediately she was way smarter than anyone he'd ever met before. He chuckled, reminded again of his sister and her raving about 'Sam, the future astronaut' who was so smart and capable and he should watch his back because 'Sam' was going to be an astronaut before he ever would and he only had his skills as a pilot going for him whereas 'Sam' had all the brains in the world. He gritted his teeth because he knew that was his sister's way of teasing him. She was always giving him that look when she talked about 'Sam'. The look that sent him running because it was the look she always had when she teased him about getting a girlfriend. Why the two were related in that melon his sister had for a brain he had _no_ idea. Well, where was 'Sam' now, huh? Here was Cameron Mitchell on an alien planet. And just where was 'Sam, the future astronaut'? He grinned malevolently. It was just a pity he'd never get to rub it in his sister's face. He'd just have to be content with looking at her smugly from now on.

He turned to look at Sam sleeping again, resting her head on a forearm as she lay on her side. The moonlight did wonders for her. It was shocking how beautiful she looked under the pale light of the two... he looked up at the sky again... three moons which orbited this planet and bathed the night in a faintly blue light. She must be exhausted, she'd worked from sun-up to sun-down almost. She seemed the driven sort, likely to pull all-nighters for fun, but still, she worked hard today.

He smirked as he remembered earlier that day when he'd taken it upon himself to check how well she handled a Beretta. Colonel O'Neill had given him permission to set up a few targets off on some rocky outcroppings. Cam may not be a genius, but he was smart enough to know not to invoke Dr. Jackson's wrath by suggesting a set up near the ruins themselves. Jackson could be kinda scary if you didn't properly show respect to the crumbling rock walls all around.

She had shied away from the weapon, but he'd managed to convince her she should at least let him see how much work she'd need in future because if Dr. Jackson proved anything it was that everyone who went through the 'gate needed to learn how to defend themselves and their teammates. She would learn one way or another. And his way was going to be a damn sight better than the alternative, which would also include a crash course in dodging bullets as an added 'bonus'. Her grip was wrong, her breathing was wrong, her stance was wrong, her posture was wrong, she even closed one eye when she aimed. It was all as he expected. He had a lot of work to do, but strangely... he was looking forward to it.

He glanced at his watch and touched the button to light up the display. It was time to wake the Colonel.

* * *

P9R-152, January 2006 (alternate reality)

She stumbled and fell to one knee as her breaths came in sharp, shallow gasps. She looked around with wild eyes for any sign of... anyone... not just him. She got up again when she heard shots from behind her. He told her to keep ahead of the sound of shots because he'd be covering her 'six'. The 'gate was this way she was sure of it.

"Come on, Sam. Get a move on." Daniel called from behind her and looked over his shoulder for a moment before grabbing her elbow and helping her along. "Jack and Cameron are holding them up, but we gotta have the 'gate dialled for when they catch up to us." She wondered how things could have gone so wrong. This was supposed to be an uninhabited world. "Move." He gave her a shove in the direction she'd been going, she had been right about the direction of the Stargate after all, and turned around to open fire with his hand gun. She flinched with each loud report as she ran headlong through the tall trees, looking frantically for the clearing with its standing stones and rocky plinth and the vine covered ring which sat atop it. Vine-covered! Holy Hannah, why had none of them noticed that?

She heard a branch breaking off to the right and raised her own pistol, the one Cam pushed into her hand as he sent her running, she squeezed off a shot when she saw a dark shape that wasn't wearing green. Cam said she didn't need to hit anything, she just needed to pin them down behind cover. She kept running even though her hand was stinging after firing off that shot. She could see it! There it was! She made for it as quickly as she could and broke through into the circle of standing stones and flat rocks piled one atop another and made for the DHD. She began dialling Earth as quickly as she could. Slapping down hard on each symbol on the circular face of the device. She'd punched in four of them before something in the back of her mind told her to duck. She rolled to the side and heard the clang of metal on metal as she gave a little cry when she realised she'd just been standing there! The man clad in furs and leathers growled at her as she scrabbled backwards in her prone position. He moved forward again and raised the curved sword with one hand and swung down at her only for it to rebound off the underside of a P90 and slide into the loamy forest soil. Cam got up off his knees and kicked the man in the gut before smashing the butt of his SMG into the man's face.

Where'd he come from? Why hadn't he just shot the man with his gun? Before she could say anything he reached for her hand and took the Beretta she held and pointed it at the man as he struggled up onto his knees and snarled at them. He fired and fired and fired. She nearly jumped out of her skin at the noises, at the sight of him so casually killing someone. She'd completely forgotten she'd just been asking herself why he'd not shot the man earlier. He handed the gun back to her and pulled her up with a little push towards the DHD. She nodded stupidly and groaned when she realised the device had reset itself and she had to start over again. She wracked her brain for the symbols, but the only thing she could think about was that the man standing next to her slipping a new plastic magazine into his P90 had just killed a man right in front of her. Just shot him. She glanced down at the body. Three shots, right in the heart. Her eyes began to sting and she flinched when a hand came down on her shoulder.

"Sam, dial the 'gate." He looked away. "You can hate me later." Her brows knit tightly, but it was enough that she could see the symbols in her head again. She started thumping down on the panels with the heel of her hand then pressed the red half-sphere in the center of the DHD. The Stargate finished it's spinning and a wormhole formed inside it. "Stargate Command, this is Captain Mitchell. We are under attack and coming in hot!" He took a hold of her arm again and raised her sleeve to reveal the GDO. "Punch in the IDC, Sam." He moved off to the side and raised his gun as he spotted something in the trees and opened fire. She flinched again, but began pressing buttons on the device, punching in SG-1's code.

"Captain Mitchell, this is Stargate Command," blared an unfamiliar voice from Cameron's radio. "Repeat your designation." Cam growled and looked at her, she shrugged, the GDO was flashing that the IDC was correct and had been accepted, but the iris was closed.

"This is Captain Cameron Mitchell of SG-1, we are under attack by several _dozen_ armed assailants. We are coming in hot as soon as Dr. Jackson and Colonel O'Neill-" he stopped when he was forced to fire off into the trees at a group of three men who were charging them with what looked like axes. She saw Daniel running towards her with Colonel O'Neill laying down covering fire behind him. She looked down at the GDO and it still said the IDC was correct, but the iris was closed.

"Understood, Captain. We are opening the iris." came the reply over the radio and Cam grabbed her arm and shoved her towards the 'gate. She had a moment to look down and see the GDO was showing all greens before he pushed her one last time into the event horizon. She blinked when she stepped out at the other end as she found herself staring down the barrels of several high calibre machine guns being wielded by some very serious looking men. She instinctively put her hands up even though she was holding a gun in one of them.

"Don't shoot. It's me. Dr. Samantha Carter." She looked up into the control room only to tilt her head at the stranger who was looking back at her. No one lowered their guns so she was afraid to move forward, only when Daniel came barrelling into her from behind did she move along the ramp after he grabbed her to keep her upright.

"Sam, you okay? You gotta move out of the-" he stopped when he spotted an impossibility. She saw it too. Daniel Jackson was looking back at them from the Control Room. "What the..." She turned her head around, wondering where he was, why hadn't he come through yet? Then he did, running through in a semi-crouch with Colonel O'Neill close behind.

"Close the iris!" the Colonel yelled at the top of his lungs and she nearly fainted when massive scythe-like blades of metal spiralled in over the event horizon and several loud bangs could be heard before the blue glow faded from behind the closed off Stargate. "What the Hell is that?" She was shaking her head in disbelief. What _was_ that? Where was her paracrystalline liquid mesh iris? O'Neill looked around at the guns still pointed at them then looked into the control room. "You're not George."

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006 (alternate reality)

"He's my husband, George!"she cried as she slapped the top of his desk from her seat across from him. Her eyes were glittering fiercely, half in anger, half with tears which simply would not fall. George watched her silently for a moment until she closed her eyes and took in a shuddering breath, letting it out in a pained sigh. She looked up at him apologetically, shaking her head slightly. "I'm sorry, General. I just..." It was his turn to shake his head in understanding. "I need him." she breathed painfully as her hands moved unconsciously over the swell of her belly. "I can't do this without..." She hung her head again with a grimace before looking up again, her eyes haunted. She looked as she did when they first encountered her, alone and afraid, being chased by half the galaxy. "I'm a stranger to your world, and he's all I have." George stood up and walked around his desk to sit in the chair next to hers. He reached across and took her hand after she'd pushed her black hair back around her ear and fussed nervously with one of her pigtails.

"Vala, I understand how you feel. After all, my godchild is out there too." He patted her hand affectionately as she gulped down hard on a shudder and nodded. "We don't know what's happening yet, I'm sending out SG-3 to the planet to try and re-establish contact." He smiled reassuringly at the alien woman who had formerly been the host to the Goa'uld Qetesh. "I'm sure Dr. Jackson is fine. In the meantime if you'd like to stay here on base I can arrange for that." Vala nodded eagerly and began standing up. The General helped her and walked her towards the door. She stopped on the threshold and turned back to him.

"I need my Daniel, George, I will do whatever I need to do to be with him. Just letting you know." She reached up and patted his cheek with a smile as if she hadn't just threatened him with only God knows what. He closed his door and shook his head, wondering again for the umpteenth time just how much that woman was capable of, even in her condition.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

Oh, he did not like this. Not one bit. He glared at the Teal'c across the table from him then glanced over the Jaffa's shoulder to where he could see an incongruously familiar face looking his way as its owner paced back and forth outside the 'interview' room with his arms crossed over his green BDUs. He decided not to think about it.

"Okay, once more from the top. I am Captain Cameron Mitchell of the United States Air Force. I was born on the 18th of May, 1980, in Topeka, Kansas, to Frank and Wendy Mitchell of Auburn, Kansas. I graduated from George Washington High School in 1997, and from the US Air Force Academy just down the road," he pointed to where he knew north northeast would be, "in 2000." He again glanced over the Jaffa's shoulder to catch the scrutinising gaze he was getting from the man in the corridor. His eyes widened when an incongruously familiar blonde, despite her very short haircut, in similar green BDUs came to stand next to the man and spoke to him softly before walking away. He looked back at Teal'c. "I was hand-picked to be a test pilot for the X-301 program in 2003 and then the X-302 in 2005 before finally joining Stargate Command just last week. This was my first mission through the 'gate after my training at the Alpha Site and only my eighth and ninth crossings over the event horizon."

"Indeed." the Jaffa intoned. Cam glared over his shoulder again at the man staring at him. "It is quite remarkable how similar you are to Colonel Mitchell in all other respects bar your age."

"You're telling me." he murmured.

"I believe you even share the same birthday." added Teal'c with a small smile at Cam's incredulous frown. What were the chances of that? "The same is true of your Dr. Carter and Colonel Carter. They also share many things in common despite their difference in ages. Including their birthdays."

"Genetics and Probability Theory are not among my specialities." Cam muttered.

"Indeed, you share that also with Colonel Mitchell." Teal'c added and Cam had to snigger at the absurdity.

"Tell me one thing? Is he a Royals fan or a Cards fan?" he asked the Jaffa who canted his head slightly.

"Colonel Mitchell is not as avid a fan of baseball as he is of football. I do not believe he follows any one particular team." Teal'c replied after a moment only for Cam to laugh at having found such a difference.

"How about you?" he asked light-heartedly.

"I am, of course, a supporter of the Rockies of Colorado." responded the smiling Jaffa.

"Of course, gotta root for the home team." Cam added with a sigh as he looked away. "There are so many differences in our worlds," he turned back to look at Teal'c, "at the galactic level, you know?" He again looked at the man in the corridor whose mannerisms he recognised as his own. "But him and me. We're... scarily similar despite the differences."

"I believe the credit for that should go to your grandmother, Captain Mitchell." Teal'c prompted and Cam laughed out loud.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

"Look... Dr. Jackson-"

"Please, call me Daniel." interjected the ersatz linguist across the table from her as he looked down at a file folder.

"I'd rather not. I don't want to confuse you with... well, with Daniel." she supplied and he looked up and lifted his eyebrows in exactly the same way she imagined Daniel would. "Although even that much might not help." she added while leaning back and crossing her arms. Dr. Jackson smiled slightly and nodded as he looked back down at the file folder and waggled a pen between two fingers.

"I understand. At least you've managed to inadvertently carve out a niche for yourself among your counterparts." he said with a slight smile. She chortled.

"Yeah, I get to be the kid even in a roomful of mes." She looked at him darkly then sighed and gave him an apologetic look.

"How's that going by the way?" he asked her gently and she had to smile.

"Bizarre. Beyond bizarre. I mean, they are all Samantha Carter, in very Samantha Cartery ways, but at the same time they're not the same at all." She scrubbed at her forehead. "It's like I'm in a very strange funhouse." She leaned forward slightly. "Also, did you know that most of them-"

"Yes." he interrupted with a rather stiff smile. "And I would appreciate it if you did not tell my Sam and Cameron." He gave her a slow nod with a raised eyebrow. "I kind of have a bet riding on it." He looked away wistfully for several moments. "And even if she can't be here to collect I'd rather not give her a leg up." Sam frowned softly. It had come to her as a huge surprise to find most of her counterparts had met their counterpart Camerons years before. And not only that, but they all seemed to have some sort of crush on their Cam the same way she did. Some had _married_ theirs. It was bizarre. She'd only known the guy for a few days, and granted he was all sorts of good-looking, but to marry him? She couldn't conceive of that. She looked up at the door when it opened and _she_ stuck her head in. It was... discomfiting seeing herself, not only with twelve more years of life, but also as a soldier. She found that strange, practically all of them were Air Force officers.

"Can you pick this up again later, Daniel? I kinda need her now." Colonel Carter gave her a small smile before looking back at the archaeologist glancing at her over his shoulder.

"Sure thing, Sam. All yours." He paused and frowned softly at that turn of phrase.

"Right." She looked back at Sam and hooked her head back through the door with a smile. Sam stood and nodded to Dr. Jackson and followed the older woman out. "I understand you had a pretty tough first mission there." Carter began hesitantly. Sam closed her eyes and nodded.

"I nearly died, I would have died if Cameron hadn't..." She stopped in the middle of the corridor and held a hand up to her face. She felt Colonel Carter hovering around her, obviously unsure what to do. "He threw himself in front of a sword." she breathed. "For me." she closed her eyes as an acute pain flashed in her chest. "He killed someone." she whispered hoarsely. "For me." That spurred the older woman into action. She felt an arm around her shoulder and found herself being shepherded through a door into a darkened room. There were some chairs and tables stacked up by the walls and the only illumination came from the screen saver on a small computer screen in the corner. It was enough. The tears rolled down her cheeks and she didn't know why or how she'd managed to keep them in until now. "He just took the gun out of my hand and shot him. I was looking right at them and I saw it and..." She screwed her eyes shut as she felt the arms going around her and patting her back gently. She pulled away slightly and scrubbed at her nose. "Do you know what he said to me after? When I was zoning out and couldn't remember the symbols to Earth he put his hand on my shoulder and said, 'you can hate me later.'" She looked up into blue eyes that could be her sister's. "How can I hate him when he would die for me? Why would he think I'd hate him?" Her brows knit tightly as Colonel Carter again brought her into her embrace.

"He's a soldier," she began softly, "he does things which, on some level, he knows are heinous and shameful. He does them because he feels the need to keep others from having to do them. Others like you." Sam looked up at the ever so slightly taller version of herself. "He hates the things he has to do so he knows you would too, and you do, deep down." Sam tried shaking her head, but found in the end she couldn't deny it. Of course she couldn't deny it. "You have to make him understand, that even if you hate what he has to do for you, that you don't hate him for having to do it." She felt the older woman's slightly calloused hand brush along her cheek. Callouses which she knew came from handling a weapon every day. "I've known Cameron a long time. Granted, they're not the same person, I know. However, like you and I could be sisters," Sam saw the older woman's eyes sparkling at that, "they could be brothers." She pulled back and looked long and hard into Sam's eyes. "Cameron is the best man I know. If yours is half the man mine is then he will still be someone worth going to the ends of the universe for." Sam looked down at the ground and nodded.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

"Wait a minute. You've had the call-sign 'Shaft' since the Academy? How is that even possible?" asked Colonel Mitchell to a chorus of nods from several of the other Mitchells around the table in the mess, where half of them were celebrating their very narrow victory in the basketball game, and the other half were of course commiserating their defeat. It had taken Cam's last second three-pointer from the corner over the outstretched hand of a flagging Ultimate Shaft to win the game by a point in triple overtime.

"Well, I was mostly called 'Cam' by the other cadets and I was always tooling on my Mustang on the weekends so..." All the Mitchells save the dour Marine aviator nodded at that. Apparently he drove a Buick and didn't actually like doing any auto work.

"I didn't get my 'Stang until after I came back in '03." added Last Shaft of Krypton. "Hell, if Sam hadn't driven us back to Colorado Springs in her Volvo when she enrolled then I would probably still have been walking everywhere like my first year." That also got a chorus of nods. He still had trouble believing so many Sams were career military.

"Sam's P1800 is pretty sweet." declared MJ, the female Cameron. "It should be, since I rebuilt the engine from the ground up." She smirked at them all smugly while they collectively glared at her. He wondered what his Sam actually drove.

"So if you guys are all Shafts, well," he glanced at Cam-el the only non-Shaft of the bunch, "most of you, but didn't get your call-sign at the Academy, how did you get it?" The table quieted almost instantly and he wondered if he'd just made a huge mistake.

"You're better off not knowing, kid. Trust us." Colonel Mitchell said softly. Cam canted his head. He could see the pain in the man's eyes, in most of their eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't-" he was stopped when MJ put her hand over his.

"Don't worry about it. We're happy for you." She smiled softly and his brow furrowed. "Really."

"I'm gonna call it a night here, Cams." announced Shaft 2099 from the other end of the table. Several of them muttered their agreement and with a variety of table slaps, shoulder claps, coffee mug clinks and spoon taps, most left for their respective quarters with a gaggle of SFs in their wake. Colonel Mitchell, Bizarro Shaft and MJ were left. She looked at him in a very scrutinising way, then turned to the Colonel and the Marine.

"You've noticed it too, haven't you?" she whispered with a little flick of the head in Cam's direction. He frowned while the two older men around the table just nodded.

"Noticed what?" he demanded.

"Look at me, kid, and tell me what you see." she ordered. He frowned slightly and looked down at the obvious response, she chortled. "Right. I am as different from the other Cams as it is possible to get and still be me." She tilted her head slightly. "I have science on my side though. The Swath is a real thing with real effects." She hooked her head in Bizarro's direction. "Take our loveable Marine over there. He's about as opposite of me as you can possibly get. I mean, really... opposite... No offense." He just shrugged while still looking at Cam. "You on the other hand..." Cam looked to his two b-ball teammates and gave them a confused frown.

"What she means, kid," began the Marine in his deliberately slow drawl, "is that fate threw you a slider and you still hit it out of the park."

"Though fate probably still had a hand in that swing too." Colonel Mitchell intoned as he took another quick bite of the pecan pie he still had left on his plate. Bizarro grunted with a nod.

"I'm not following." Cam muttered.

"You lost ten years, you're not the same me, genetically we are _not_ the same person, I share more genetic markers in common with Little Miss Can't Be Wrong here," he indicated MJ who smirked at him, "than I do with you, and she's got an extra arm on her chromosome." Prime frowned slightly. "And yet you still look like that. And you still act like you do. And however it turned out, you _still_ met Sam who is _still_ about your age."

"What are the odds of that?" Cam muttered as he leaned back while holding onto the underside of the table.

"Right. It's cosmic phenomena level stuff and you _know_ how much I like to leave that sorta thinking to Sam, and I _bet_ you do even after only knowing her a few days." Colonel Mitchell tapped the table and pointed his finger at him. Cam nodded, but looked at the Marine who was watching them all a bit balefully.

"I have no Sam." he intoned as MJ and Prime looked at him sadly. "She died in Gulf War One." He shrugged and clenched his jaw. "After that I didn't really need the Air Force or the stars. I didn't really need to fly." He leant back against the wall as he straddled the bench Cam was sitting on and played idly with the fork on his empty plate. "When I eventually got pulled back in I decided to join the Marines instead. They just had to stick me in a Harrier though. Couldn't help themselves." He gave them all an evil smirk. "I made it though, I've moved on and I've got Vala. So I'm good with that." He stood up and put his hand on Cam's shoulder and squeezed it hard. "Don't mean you shouldn't hold on to that girl with all your might, boy. Sam is one extraordinary woman." He slapped the side of Cam's head and waved over his shoulder at them as they bid him good night.

"Good guy. Probably handy to have around when you want to clear your place out at the end of a party." MJ murmured with a faint smile. Shaft Prime smirked and nodded. Cameron looked across the table at what could be his elder brother and sister.

"But Sam is so, _so, way_, out of my league." he breathed. They both glanced up at him and frowned identically in spite of the female Cameron's softer features.

"You're just saying that because you don't know her well enough yet." MJ declared.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

She was going to die of embarrassment later, but right at that moment she couldn't help herself. She grabbed onto his hand, _again_, as he sat next to her watching the basketball game on the big screen. She'd never been much for watching any kind of sports, but for this one game, she was living every pass and every block and every shot. Hopping in her seat at the close calls, lifting her hands to her face when the Spiders scored and cheering when the Capes did. And much to her chagrin, on more than one... more than a few... she had to be brutally honest with herself... on more occasions than she cared to admit, she found herself reaching for him in all the excitement. She was definitely going to just turn beet red and keel over later once she found herself enough time to reflect upon her actions over the course of watching this game.

However, now she found herself at a crossroads. She simply couldn't bear to watch any further and yet she could not tear her gaze away from the screen. There were fifteen seconds left in triple extra whatsit and the Spiders were two points up. She held her breath when Cam was given the ball up by the top of the screen, she saw him roll his hips to the left and pass it back to his right only to suddenly sprint down the line and get the ball right back as he reached the far corner of the court. The Spider who'd been sticking close to him lagged behind a split second and Cam rose up high into the air and stroked the ball into a looping arc which seemed to hang in the air forever while she watched until it sped down like a bullet and passed through the basket just as the air horn given to this reality's Colonel Reynolds, who'd been wrangled in for time-keeping duties, blared a discordant note that was yet filled with triumph and elation. She leapt up out of her seat just as many of the Teal'cs and Daniels and their own O'Neill, visible up in the stands at the top of the screen, did the same. She turned to see Cam sitting in his chair grinning as Daniel clapped and Colonel O'Neill slapped him on the back and she couldn't stifle her own little cry of joy as she pulled him up out of the chair and hugged him tightly. She'd had him teach her enough of the rules before the screening to know that his shot had been worth three points and had in fact won the game for the Capes.

She looked around the screening room and saw half of the Carters doing much as she was while the other half seemed to be busy consoling the nearest Cameron to them. She shook her head and gulped tightly at what a strange concept it was for her to wrap her head around.

"Mitchell, you have no idea how hard it was to keep that a secret from Carter." O'Neill needled him from where he sat as he grinned happily in their direction. Cameron just chuckled as she still had her arm wrapped around his neck. She looked from Colonel O'Neill to Daniel and flushed bright crimson at the looks they were giving her. She tried to make it seem casual as she pulled back and smiled for Cameron as she congratulated him.

"Well done, Cameron. That was so good!" she burbled and it was his turn to blush and rub at the back of his neck with his hand in embarrassment.

"I was just lucky is all." he muttered and she shook her head and sat back down in her seat.

"Well, don't some say that being lucky is a skill?" She glanced at Colonel O'Neill and Daniel and they both chuckled and nodded.

"One that comes in very handy when you're a member of SG-1, Mitchell." the Colonel added.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

He sat on the couch in the rec-room and watched the movie on the large flat panel television standing on a high cabinet. He sat with his Dr. Jackson, a Dr. Jackson in desert camouflage BDUs and a Dr. Jackson in forest camouflage BDUs and was explaining to them how the Navy would never spend that much money developing fancy planes and AI drones when it could buy an entire carrier group for the same price. In his reality, the movie was about Air Force pilots, and hence, by definition, a much better movie despite being otherwise almost identical. He blinked when he felt his skin tingling. He looked over his shoulder and smiled as he saw her entering the room.

"Hey, you're taking a break?" he asked and she crossed her arms under her breasts and blew air through her pursed lips, sending her fringe aflutter. He tried very hard to ignore that.

"Yeah, they're very me, don't get me wrong, but it's like being stuck in a room full of older sisters who are very indulgent of me." she replied and the Jacksons all chuckled. "I never thought I'd be glad so many of them are soldiers. Otherwise I think they'd be braiding my hair and giving me fashion tips." He had to laugh at that. "What are you watching?" She glanced at the TV and he turned back to it.

"A truly great awful movie." he replied and she made a little noise of confusion. "It's about three Navy test pilots who end up having to take on a super advanced AI drone test plane."

"That's a little simplistic don't you think?" Desert Jackson muttered only for Forest Jackson to chuckle and shrug his shoulders. Cam caught the action on screen and saw it was the point when the female pilot had to eject over enemy territory and ended up with her parachute stuck in a tree.

"Oh, looks like she needs Mark and a broom." he said while grinning and pointing at the screen. The Jacksons all looked at him in confusion.

"What did you say?" He frowned at the strained quality in her voice and turned his head around to look into her eyes. They were roiling with a complex mixture of emotions he couldn't decipher.

"It's just something I picked up when I was a kid. It's the term I use for Search and Rescue." he muttered. "I know, it doesn't make sense, it's just a childhood thing." He frowned at her as he saw her shifting her weight from one foot to the other.

"Ace was stuck in a tree." she breathed and he shot up off the couch and turned to face her with a wide-eyed stare. She blinked rapidly and looked away from him for a moment before facing him once more.

"Sam, did you own a Skystriker?" he asked in a low voice and her brow furrowed before she broke for the door at a run. He started trying to make his way over the legs of some very confused linguists. Sam had gotten to the door only to be stopped by the raised hand of an SF.

"Let me through." she demanded.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't let you move about the base unescorted." the female Sergeant then smiled at her. "You may storm off dramatically once your assigned escort returns."

"Sam?" he called while Forest Jackson laughed at what was happening, but was at least trying to help him get past with the minimum of fuss. Sam looked at him with fear in her eyes and he blanched, wondering why that was. When the door opened to reveal the Marine who had walked in with her and departed for a short spell under the impression she would be there a while, Sam bolted from the room with the female Sergeant smirking after her. Cam finally got out from under the myriad Daniels and ran for the door himself.

"Cameron!" He turned to see his Jackson had called him. "Don't push her too hard." He turned back around and left the room with his SF tailing him while trying not to chuckle. He looked both ways down the corridor and ran after her retreating figure as she turned a corner in the distance. He followed her down turn after turn until he realised she was heading for the quarters the Carters and other female SG-1 analogues were sharing. He stopped outside the door with the smirking SF standing guard and glared at him, daring him to say anything. He glanced at the other SF posted at the door who seemed extremely confused. He knocked lightly and a woman he didn't recognise answered the door. Glossy, black hair tied in pig tails spilled over her shoulders and a knowing smile graced her lips as she looked Cameron up and down for several moments.

"Oh, I see what they _mean_. You _are_ just like my Cameron except all young and cuddly." She flashed him a very wide, semi-predatory grin and he gulped. "I suppose you'll want to talk to her. I don't mind giving you two a bit of space." She stepped out and motioned him in with a wave of her arm. He nodded in gratitude and stepped inside to see Sam sitting on the floor between the bed and the wall with her back to the door. He heard the door closing behind him and shuffled his feet a moment while trying to think what he could say.

"Sam." he paused when he saw her shoulders bunch higher up her neck and he nearly choked, not knowing what was happening. "Um, I don't know what I did, or what I said, but I'm sorry." He saw her shudder slightly and ran a hand over the top of his head. "I'll just..." he pointed behind him to the door. "I'll go and..."

"Don't." she whispered and he wasn't sure how to take it. He froze when she turned her head towards him, as if he was afraid of startling her with a sudden move. "I'm sorry. I panicked."

"Why? What did I say?" he asked in confusion. "I mean, if you are her then..."

"Please don't." she breathed and he clacked his teeth shut. "I can't..." She let her head drop and he had to stop himself from moving towards her. "I was so close to hoping you might be the one who wouldn't fall short. That I'd finally found someone who wouldn't fail in comparison to a ghost from my past." She lifted her head and turned to look at him over her shoulder again. "But it turns out you _are_ that ghost." He frowned and did move forward after that, she followed him with her eyes, but didn't shy away as he came down on one knee close by.

"I'm not a ghost." he said softly.

"Yes, you are." she growled. "You're him." she pushed her hand over her hair and glanced away. "I've been writing to you over the years. Started out in wire-bound notebooks, then I moved on to some fancier journals, but even though I couldn't remember your name, I could always clearly see your smile when I wrote to you about what was troubling me." She looked back at him and glanced at his mouth. "I don't know why I didn't see it before, it's so obviously the same smile." He lay his forearm on the bed for balance, but froze when he saw her lean away from him slightly. He lifted his hands in a placating motion and she settled back down. "Even as I wrote to you I knew I shouldn't be. That it wasn't healthy for me to be... pining... for a memory." She looked away and rolled her eyes with a smirk. "I tried to move on, to find someone, but I always compared them to this idealised, grown-up version of a phantom from my past. How can anyone compare with someone who has no faults because I've fantasized them all away?" She flicked her gaze back onto him and he was mesmerised by the intensity in her blue eyes. "Then I met you. And you were certainly as handsome as I imagined he'd grown up to be. As strong as I wished him to have become. And at least as brave as anyone could have a need of being in any sane world. I thought you could be the one to break the cycle. That perhaps in time, I could get past it all and be with someone who was real."

"I am real." he whispered and she rolled her eyes.

"I _know_ that, but you're also _him_!" she cried. He looked at her in confusion. "You can't surpass him, or overcome him, you can't compare favourably to _yourself_, after all." She laughed for several moments. "You're a tautology, Cameron Mitchell. Tautologies are tautological." She started giggling and covered her mouth with a hand as she began having trouble breathing. He reached for her and sighed in relief when she allowed him to hold her shoulder. It seemed to calm her down slightly. "I have no love of tautologies, Cam." His brows knit and his gaze faltered until she lifted a hand and raised his chin with a finger. "I need you to go beyond just the Law of Identity, Cameron, do you understand?"

"Not really." he replied and she laughed. He didn't mind so much as all his focus was currently taken up by the burning of his skin as her fingers brushed along his cheek.

"That will do for a start." She smiled at him and he wasn't sure, but thought maybe he could take that as a good sign.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

How was this not the most bizarre turn of events imaginable? She'd at last found herself possibly on the path to maybe falling for someone who perhaps measured up to a fantasy she'd carried around in her heart for nearly two decades. Only for that person to _be_ the fantasy. The presumptive slayer of the mythical beast was in fact the beast itself made flesh and blood.

She pulled out the leather-bound notebook she always carried with her and slipped the pen from the loop before opening it and flattening out a new page. She stared at the blank white sheet and clicked the pen open and placed the nib against the paper.

_I think I love you._

She looped the pen back in its holder and clasped the book shut before she slipped it into the inside pocket of her green BDUs whence she'd retrieved it. She powered up the laptop on which she'd been working with the other Carters to solve their problem and stared at the models she'd created to simulate several of the hypotheses which had thus far been formulated. None of them looked promising. And they all seemed like they should work, except they always ran into some niggling issue with the assumptions they had about the problem itself.

She went back to their initial hypothesis and those assumptions. First, the superfluous energy signature was an indicator of some inadvertent transition of unstable matter through the singularity via the wormhole. Second, repeated trips through the singularity weakened the fabric of the space-time continuum allowing the rupture of one reality into another caused, finally, by that transition of unstable matter. Third, the absence of entropic cascade failure was the result of the proximity of the realities in relation to one another. Wait. That's all wrong. Who added that? She deleted that part. She'd already shown in her reality that entropic cascade failure was a side effect of travel through the quantum mirror and other such quantum spin vector transitioning technologies and thus, not applicable to the current situation where travel was through coherent subspace transit.

She looked at the first two assumptions again and frowned heavily at the second. She didn't think that was likely. Wormholes didn't interact with the space-time continuum in such a way. She looked again at the first assumption.

"Oh, hey." She blinked and looked over her shoulder for the source of the voice and found the Carter from the first SG-1 to come through, standing in the doorway in her black BDUs.

"Hey." she added and turned back to her screen and tried to return her attention to that first assumption. Something about it was bugging her.

"I heard you and your Cameron only met a few days ago." Carter said as she sat down next to Sam and glanced at her screen. When she saw how the assumptions had been whittled away she lifted her eyebrows and looked at Sam a moment.

"Yeah, about a week ago. Well, tell a lie. I just found out we met each other once as children. Nearly eighteen years ago." Sam finished very lightly. Carter blinked.

"Then you're not so different from us after all." she said with a smile and Sam turned to look at her and glanced down to catch a glimpse of the ring on her finger. She'd seen similar on the fingers of some of the other Carters.

"I'd forgotten him, except sort of as the weight of memory." she said with a glance down at her hands on the laptop's keys.

"That's the thing about Cameron. He gets under your skin. You never really forget him." Carter offered. "I don't know what your situation is, or how divergent your particular corner of the multiverse is from mine, but I may as well... _If_ the time ever comes, cut the green one." Sam watched her with a wary frown. "Don't worry about it." Carter laid a hand on her arm and rubbed it gently. "Just... remember." She smiled softly and stood up. She paused again as she glanced at Sam's laptop. "I hear Prometheus is nearly ready to go. My team's been asked to join in the mission." Sam blinked at the news.

"Really? Well... I suppose I should say good luck." She sighed at the prospect of being stranded. Away from family, away from friends. Her first mission had _really_ gone awry.

"How about you come with me and we'll grab a bite at the mess?" She chuckled ruefully. "The other Sams are holding a raffle to pick new names." Sam frowned and lowered her gaze to the table.

"I don't really want to think about that." she whispered. Carter smiled sadly and looped her arm through Sam's, pulling her from her chair and off towards the door. She powered down the laptop before moving away.

"Well, you never know. We could figure something out at the last minute." she said wistfully.

* * *

Stargate Command, January 2006

"Can you believe that?" Colonel O'Neill muttered as he put his feet up on the bench in the mess while Dr. Jackson squashed his hamburger so it was a little bit flatter. Cam scratched at the side of his face while he stabbed a meatball with his fork and brought it to his lips.

"It's certainly hard to fathom." Daniel replied as he then picked up the burger and took a big bite.

"Their reality must be _very_ bad." Cam murmured. He had no wish to judge the actions of the black BDU wearing SG-1, he was just glad they'd be going home. He brightened when he saw Sam walking over with a tray of lemon chicken, orange juice and blue jello. She smiled when she sat across from him. His lips curled up involuntarily as he shifted slightly to make a little more room for her tray.

"Hey." she whispered while slicing into her chicken with the side of her fork.

"Hey yourself." he replied before taking a sip of his juice.

"Okay..." O'Neill said slowly. "Captain, I order you to get past this," he paused and waved his finger indicating the space between Cam and Sam across the table, "awkward stage you two have going, on the double." Daniel looked up from his burger and glared at him while Sam flushed crimson and looked down intensely at her chicken.

"Yes, sir." Cam replied with a chuckle.

"Jack." Daniel growled in irritation.

"What, Daniel?" Jack shrugged his shoulders at him. "I'm his CO. I can order him to do whatever I want." Sam started giggling despite herself while Daniel fumed. "Now eat up, we're due to leave in thirty."

Thirty minutes later they stood in the control room with this reality's SG-1 while saying their farewells. Cam shook... _his_ hand and grinned when he got a clap on the shoulder and a DVD with the recording of the basketball game on it. He tucked it inside his jacket for safekeeping. Sam and Colonel Carter were actually hugging each other. They'd just decided they were sisters.

"Alright folks, so we're all agreed?" Jack looked around his team and lifted his eyebrows. Cam looked back at him in confusion. "When we get back, there will be no mention of me being a General over here. I don't want that kinda hassle." he groused while Colonel Carter actually giggled, much to everyone's dismay. They made their way out to the Embarkation Room after the Asgard device had been fired through the wormhole opened to P9R-152. Jack turned to face them and put his sunglasses on under his baseball cap. "We don't know what's on the other side of this 'gate, kids. Could be dozens of sword wielding maniacs, could be something worse." He pointed at Daniel. "Danny you stick by the 'gate and cover us," he indicated himself and Cameron, "we'll cover Carter at the DHD while she dials Earth. I want to be off that rock in less than sixty seconds, comprende?" They all nodded. "Okay. Let's go through the looking glass, Alice." He turned and raised his P90 before stepping through the Stargate with Cam close behind. When they emerged on the other side it was to a truly unnerving sight. "Okay, this could be something worse than dozens of sword wielding maniacs." Jack muttered while keeping his gun raised.

"Daniel! Where have you been?" cried Vala as she ran up the stone plinth as quickly as she could and wrapped her arms around Dr. Jackson while kissing him hard.

"Baby... wait... please." Daniel tried to interject in between the shorter woman's insistent kisses until he finally just groaned and gave up, wrapping her in his arms. Sam blinked at them as she came to stand beside Cameron.

"Al, good to see you." Jack said after finally lowering his P90 when he realised he wasn't about to get mauled to death by his best friend's pregnant wife. "Didn't think Vala was allowed 'gate travel." He walked over to the amused leader of SG-3 while he looked over his shoulder and pointed at the still kissing couple.

"General Hammond made an exception after she actually managed to arm the base's self destruct with a remote she jury-rigged." Colonel Reynolds replied and Jack just gaped at him.

* * *

Auburn, Kansas, March 2006 (alternate reality)

Sam was nervous. She was really nervous. Why was she so nervous? She glanced over at him as he drove into the gravelled square in front of his parents' farmhouse and killed the engine. He looked over at her and smiled that smile of his that always made her feel better.

"They will love you, Sam. You have nothing to worry about." he murmured soothingly and she took a deep breath and nodded after letting it out in a long sigh. He reached across and brushed his fingers across her cheek and she closed her eyes at the sensation. After stepping out of the car and moving towards the door with Cameron trailing behind porting the bags, she knocked on the door and took another deep breath before putting up a smile she hoped didn't look nervous. When the door actually opened she gaped and squealed and ran in and wrapped her arms around Stacey. "What the Hell?"

"Holy Hannah! Stacey, what are you doing here? Wait!" Sam looked over her shoulder at Cameron. "No!" Stacey howled with laughter as she hugged Sam some more.

"Yeah! He's the annoying little brother." she cried and Sam laughed.

"I can totally see that now!" she replied as she looked at Cameron's slowly darkening features. He looked between them both and she could see the wheels turning in his head.

"And you're 'Sam, the future astronaut'." he growled. "_You_ were the one crying about tautologies being tautological!" he cried with a finger pointed at her. She laughed, partly confused, but still incredibly amused. "This ain't fair, Sam, I was all ready to look smugly at my sister all week long without ever explaining anything. I was looking forward to that!"

"You can't ever out-smug me, Cameron Mitchell, I don't even know what you're talking about and I am _still_ three steps ahead of you." Stacey intoned. "I am the Queen of Smugness, bow down before me!"

"Shut up and let us inside, harridan." he muttered and only brightened when Sam came over and hugged him tight, kissing him softly. She pulled him in behind her and then had to withstand the greetings of his parents who _of course_ remembered her from the barbecue. The Universe was just too bizarre for words.

* * *

Stargate Command, March 2006 (alternate reality)

"I got no complaints, sir. Actually, I gotta tell ya, I like the girl. It's a little bit scary, you know?" Jack futzed with one of General Hammond's paper weights as he sat in his office with Daniel in the next chair. "As technical dweebs go she's alright."

"I think what Jack is trying to say, General-" Daniel began, trying to allay any anger Hammond may have over his godchild being called a dweeb.

"It's alright, Dr. Jackson, I know what he's trying to say." he interrupted with a slight smile before looking back at Jack. "That's a good thing, Colonel, because she's being permanently assigned to SG-1, effective immediately." Jack looked up and tilted his head.

"And Mitchell?"

"SG teams have no set size, Colonel, five or six makes no difference to me. I just need to know if you think he's up to the job." Hammond stated and Jack looked down with a nod.

"I can use him, sir, don't get me wrong. It's just, he's good enough to not be my 2IC." Jack muttered.

"What are you saying, Jack?" Daniel asked.

"I'm saying I want him on SG-1, but not if it's gonna keep him from getting his own team." he replied.

"Then groom him, Colonel." Hammond intoned gravely from the other side of the table. Jack and Daniel looked over with wide eyes. "Frankly, I'd rather he go wherever Dr. Carter goes. And if you say he's good enough to take over from you some day then make it happen when the time is right." Jack was silent for several seconds.

"Will I get to retire, sir, or are you gonna force me to be a General?" Jack asked darkly.

"I think that's not up to me, Jack." George replied with an amused smirk. "Will you be able to retire with those two running around the galaxy?" Jack's jaw clenched as he ground his teeth.

"I'll have to get back to you on that, sir." They were all startled by a phone ringing and a panicky Daniel fumbled for it in his pockets.

"Vala?" he asked nervously into the phone. "You're sure? I'm on my way!" He shot to his feet and looked around in a slight daze. Jack turned to General Hammond and George nodded.

"Come on, Danny-boy. I'll drive ya. Will you let me tell Mitchell and Carter, sir?" Jack asked while he grabbed on to the archaeologist's arm to keep him from darting off aimlessly.

"Be my guest, Colonel." George replied with a nod and a smile.

"Let's go, Daniel. Let's make you a Dad! It'll be a piece of cake!"


End file.
